Spore Spawns Wank
So after, what, two years of waiting, Spore is finally out. A trillian billion copies shipped to a trillion billion eagerly waiting fans.

And then the complaints started.

First they discover that Spore can only be activated three times before it stops re-activating Plus it uses SecureROM

Then they discover that you can only tie one user account to each activation code (Personal opinion: this is likely to completely kill any potential resale market).

Amazon goes nuts with a campaign of one star reviews which then disappear only to reappear claiming technical hitch.

That's the news. Where is the wank? Well, it's most easily found in the EA forums.



Why can't a family game be played my family? gets met with accusations of piracy (arr!).

Hi Destiney,

If you don’t mind, please explain to me why you feel the need to pirate/steal software for your family. You see, when you buy a copy of software, _any_ software, you buy the right to install that program on ONE computer, not as many as you want.

You say in your post that you “can’t install Spore on their personal computers since I need to save my two remaining installs for when I have to reinstall Windows.” If you actually plan on saving those reinstalls for when you format your computer then you need to learn to take better care of your computer in the first place. That argument is akin to saying, “I need to be able to reinstall this carburetor on the engine of my car when I have to replace the engine next time.

As for not being able to let your kids create their own planet, are we playing the same game? I’ve got four different planets going in Spore right now. For each one I was able to create a unique planet name. What’s to stop you from being able to name a planet “Sally’s Planet” and another one “Bobby’s Planet” (or whatever your kids names are) and let them play on those specific planets?

As for the Galactic Edition of the game, I got that too and I’m totally thrilled with the extra content. I got a hard back book with artwork from the game (something you’re not gonna get from National Geographic), a “making of” DVD and the National Geographic movie that you’re complaining about. I don’t think at any time did EA or Maxis state that you specifically would receive “exclusive” content. But you did get exactly what you motioned and that’s “extra” content that wasn’t available in other versions of the game.

Finally, the DRM forces you to abide by the law. That’s all it does. If you want your kids and family to be able to play the game on their computers, buy them a copy. If you all want to share the one copy you bought then install it on a computer that’s accessible by everyone in the family. In the future you should research something before you buy it and critique the game for the game, not for having to abide by the law or any “extras” you perceived should be included with the game. Just as you cant buy one copy of Windows and install it on every computer in your house you cant buy one copy of Spore and install it on every computer.

-Reboot

P.S. And just for the record, your multiple installations of WoW _is illegal_. Read the EULA and I mean REALLY read it. You’ll see that multiple installations of the software for multiple people to use one account is against the rules and you can have your account suspended. Just thought you’d want to know that.


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@Reboot153 - Inform yourself before posting trash pls... And comparing software with a car is not a really intelligent comparision... Its like comparing CO2 with apples...

The SecROM, according to Maxis, allows you to install your copy on 3 different machines... And on that computer, you can reinstall it as often as you want, as long as you don't change the hardware.

What pisses me off about this DRM is: Allthough Maxis and EA knows that SecROM is already been cracked and that SPORE was already downloadable in torrent days and weeks before the release, why are they still using it? I really don't like this Spyware on my computer...
And to be honest... I wont be very surprised if the pirated version of SPORE dont have crashes in the space level... </i>

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Spore is anti-science!

Let me introduce myself in two sentences: I'm a 30 year old microbiology grad who's been playing games since I could hold a colecovision controller. I've developed PC games for $$$, and I work as an environmental consultant. So I think that qualifies me to talk intelligently about game design and especially about games that claim to be based on real science.

Ok, I came here to share my overall dissapointment on how the developers of Spore say they based the game on scientific principles. They are even so arrogant as to have a forum section for spore-related science news. Well, pretty much any article related to biology that may get listed in that section of the forum will successfully discount at least a handful of gameplay elements. Per article.

There's one phrase that I uttered under my breath more than any other during my Spore experience. That was "you gotta be kidding me". I'd seen all of the trailers, the promos, the interview vids on Spore. I knew it was going to be 'Science lite'. I understood that Spore wasn't a life sim, but was A GAME. But I also heard the devs say again and again that there was science behind the development decisions. Well... I have come to the conclusion that not only is Spore not using science as a guide in its development, it actially takes the OPPOSITE APPROACH in pretty much every basic biological principle you can think of!

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Room-mate suspended for using the Third Reicht (added amusement brought by the forum's feature of substitutng offensive words with SPORE).

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Would you pay $100 for a BETTER Spore?

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An Is the game good or bad? poll is just beginning and should prove interesting - so far it seems to be running pretty close.

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An angry post in defense asks Why is everyone calling it shallow>

What did you expect? on a technical level the game is quite amazing. like Will said in the TED demo on you tube......"this is a toy not a game"
Do you make a castle in the sand box at school and then when your done say "That was really shallow!" no you make another or make two and join them together. You make a bigger one, a smaller one, you go grab your plastic army men and raid the castle. The sand box is a toy and so is SPORE.

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Why would you compare it to a game like Civ 4 or Sins? I honestly want to know why these particular comparisons. You are taking a game built to be simple (And yes it was ALWAYS built to be simple even in 05) and comparing it with not your average game but a couple of the most complex and deep X4 games out today.

What the heck could possibly cause you to expect that was what you were getting out of spore? I can't remember any video at any stage anywhere that ever gave me that impression and I've been keeping my eyes open since 05 when it was first announced to the general public.

To use the sandbox analogy your comparison is like comparing a sandbox castle to a atlantic fleet command.

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Omg, The Sims 2 was shallow when you only had the base game, there was really nothing to it, until they added the expansion packs then it got more depth. Just wait for an update or something.

I personally love Spore for what it is so I am gonna go play it now!

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Finally an official message that the ability to use more than one account was "a misprint" causes things to really hit the roof.

Spore Players,

I want to apologize for the confusion surrounding access to the online features of Spore. Most of the confusion is stemming from our own mistake in the game manual that states that you can have multiple Spore accounts for each installation of the game. This is incorrect. The information that appears on the box is correct; only one unique Spore account and Screen Name/Persona can be created with each copy of the product. We will correct this information in future iterations of the manual.

I have noted that there are a few other misunderstandings that I hope to clarify here:
• To access Spore’s online features, you will need to register online and create a Spore Screen Name/Persona.
• If you already have an EA.com account, you will only need to Login using that account information and create a Spore Screen Name/Persona.
• Only one Spore Screen Name/Person can be created with a single copy of the game.
• You can play Spore offline, for this reason we have included the ability to play while not logged in.
• If you have installed your copy of Spore on multiple computers, your single account can be actively logged in up to 3 times simultaneously.
• Once you have a Spore account, you can log in with that account on any computer that has an install of any legitimate copy of Spore. On a single install it is possible for multiple users to switch back and forth between unique online Spore accounts. For this reason we have included a Log Out button in the Online Settings options labeled, Disconnect from Spore or change users. The different accounts will be playing in the same Galaxy, and will, therefore, share the same data folders.

Again, I apologize for the confusion and the mistaken information.

Lucy



Angry words are being exchanged, credit card charge backs and class-action suits are threatened, and people are confirming that the "misprint" also exists in foreign-language manuals. I suspect this has a long way to go before it burns out.